Method of coating articles.



- and in other cases lead'to apply a lead'coating and other metals in still other cases ac- HENRY HESS, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

' mnrnon or COATING ARTICLES.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, HENRY Hnssya citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county. of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania,.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Coating Articles, of which the .following is v a specification.

. This invention relates to the coating of metal articles, the object of the invention be ing toapply a metal coating to small miscellaneous metal articles such a-s screws, nails and sniall hardware of iron, steel and other metals,in such manner that the coating will be applied smoothly and uniformly and large numbers of the articles may be treated expeditiously and economically.

In accordance with my invention I em loy a coating composition containing a meta 1ngredient which is capable of fusion with the metal of the article to be coated, and I first cover the articles with this composition and then subject the coated articles to heat 'suflicient to melt the metal ingredient, whereby it will fuse with themetal of the articles and completely coat'the same.

Various coating compositions which will act in this manner under the conditions mentioned are known, the metal ingredient in some cases being tin to apply a tin coating fluxing agent and a neutral liquid to dissolve the fluxing substance, forinstance water or alcohol. For applying alea'd coating the; same ingredients may be employed except that powdered lead will be substituted for powdered tin..

I propose,- in accordance with my invention, tohandle the articles to be coated ea,-

mmse or in bulk, for instance by placing a large number of the same in a suitable contamer, preferably a reticulated basket or holder. The basket with the contained articles is then immersed in a li uid bath of composition, and a owed to 'iethe coating main a cient time topermit the'composicompletely cover the individual articles. The complete covering oi the artiele's by the I Specification of Letters Patent.

oughly and uniformly distribute the coatcomposition may be aided and facilitated by stirring the composition or agitating the container in the bath. When the articles have become thoroughly covered with the com-" position the container is liftedout and the order to cause it'to fuse or amalgamatewith.

the surface metal of the articles and coat 'the same. The articles may be subjected to heat inany suitable and a propriate manner, for instance by trans erring the container with the articles therein to. a suitable oven capable "of producing suificient heatfor the purpose mentioned. After the heat treatment the articles are removed from the oven and may then be subjected'toja further Patented J an.'1, 1918.

Application filed June 23, 1916. Serial No: 105,403.

manipulation in order to more completely I remove any ofthe composition which might adhere, and finally the coated articles are subjected, preferably while hot, to a turnbling action in order to prevent them from sticking to each other and to more thor- 1'ng and smooth down and polish thesame. This tumbling action may be efl'cted by transferringthe articles to atumb ing bar-- rel or whizzer wherein the articles will be tumbled about against each other and by their repeated impact-with and attrition on each other, the coating will be evenly and uniformly distributed and will be smoothed down and the articles polish. 1

Instead of placing the basket containing the cold covered articles "in 'an oven to a ply the fusing-heat, the articles ma.

' transferred from the basket'to a tum ling barrel and the heat applied to the barrelwhile the articles are being Subjected there-' upon -each other.

. 4 By m improved method of applying'the. metal c at ng, rious k eds 9i given a finished.

ing smoothed down and the articles polished ,bythe attrition of the individual articles tion to reach all portions of the mass and .small art lections and expeditiously and uniformly coated with a metal skln coating. The

method of procedure is of peculiar advantage in the coating of barbed wire which may be handled in rolls or bales, with the barbs and sections of connecting wire constituting in efiect a mass or collection of individual articles, in the handling of which in the application of the coating, all portions of the barbs and connecting wire sections will be thoroughly covered andeom pletely coated. The surplus coatin composition may be removed from the arbed wire bale by subjecting the latter to rapid rotation or whizzing action either before the heat application or subsequent thereto or at both periods.

While l have described a coating compo sition consisting of tin or load powder, chlorid of zinc or chlorid of ammonium and water or alcohol asbeing suitable for carr ing my improved method into efiect, it will be understood that compositions containing other ingredients may be employed provided that such compositions will contain a metal capable under-the influence of heat of fusin or amalgamating with the surface metal o the article to be coated; and it will be further understood that my method is not limited to any particular manner of procedure or sequence of steps except in so far as such limitations "are specified in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. The method of coating articles, which consists in covering'the articles en masse with a liquid coating composition containing an unmolten metal capable of fusion with the metalof the articles, manipulating the mass of articles to remove the surplus composition, and subjecting the covered articles'en masse to heat suficient to causethe metal of. the, composition to fuse with the metal of the articles.

2. The method of coating articles, which consists in covering the articles an mecca with a liquid coating composition containing an unmolten metal capable of fusion neeaoos with the -metal of the articles, manipulat-' ing the mass to remove the surplus composition, subjectin the covered articles en masce to heat su 'cient to cause the metal of the composition to fuse with the metal of the articles en masse, and further manipulating the coated articles while hot to free the same of surplus coating material.

3.'The method of coating articles, which consists in arranging said articles an mer e in a'sultable contamer, lmmersing the container in a liquid bath of coating composition containing an unmolten metal capable of fusion with the metal of the articles, removing the container from the bath and manipulating the same to remove the surplus composition, and finally subjecting the mass of articles while in the container to heat suficient to melt the metal of the composition and cause it to-fuse with the metal of the articles.

4:. The method of coating articles, which consists in covering the articles en masse with a liquid coating composition contain ing an unmolten metal capable oi fusion with the metal of the articles, subjecting the meltthe metal and cause i to fuse with the metal of the articles, an subjecting the coated articles While still hot to a tumbling action to smooth down the coating 5 .-'The method of coating articles, which consists in arranging saidarticles en masse in a suitable container, immersing the container in a liquid bath of a composition containing an unmolten metal capable of fusion covered articles en masse to heat sufficient to with the metal of the articles, removing the signature.

' HENRY HESS. 

